Scientists move closer to developing AIDS vaccine
POSTED September 20, 2009 - 16:10 | POSTED BY Jaspreet Kaur
Last edited by Jaspreet Kaur on September 20, 2009 - 16:17
The two antibodies that have been discovered now are the first of their kind to be found in more than ten years. Before their discovery, the researchers had only been successful in finding four broadly neutralizing antibodies, which were associated with an HIV strain that is mostly circulating in the America, Europe and Australia.
Wayne Koff, Senior Vice President of research and development at IAVI was quoted as saying, “The findings are an exciting advance because now we’ve got a new, potentially better, target on HIV to focus our efforts for vaccine design.”
The researchers will now do a thorough analysis of the antibodies so as to further the process of developing an AIDS vaccine.
Basically, scientists now need to find an undamaging piece of the HIV virus, known as an immunogen, which would not lead to an infection but will stimulate the human body to produce one of these two antibodies. This would lay the foundation for finding the vaccine.
HIV keeps changing and that is the biggest challenge
The latest discovery is a result of a research study that was launched by IAVI in 2006. The study was done in order to find out antibodies that counteract an extensive range of HIV strains circulating across the globe.
For the study purposes, blood from 1,800 HIV positive volunteers was examined and screened for antibodies.
Antibodies are basically protein molecules manufactured by the body so as to demolish toxins and pathogens. Researchers have forever been trying to find out antibodies that attack a vast variety of HIV strains.
As per the IAVI, the biggest problem the researchers face is that the HIV virus is the most alterable and mutable pathogen that modern science has ever come across. Because of this very reason, the virus is able to evade the immune system of the human body and makes it even more difficult to find a vaccine that can attack it.
AIDS is a global killer
AIDS is now a pandemic. It was estimated in 2007 that 33.2 million people across the globe are affected with the disease worldwide, and that it has already killed an estimated 2.1 million people, including 330,000 children. The worst affected is the sub-Saharan Africa where almost three-quarters of these deaths have occurred.
